The fluorescent treads of Schweyer's sneakers are visible beneath his dress slacks. He traded in his formal shoes to knock on doors in Center City before joining the Tuesday night neighborhood watch meeting in a South Side church basement.

Tatiana Tooley, Schweyer's opponent, is also on the run. She started her day talking to voters at the Lehigh County Senior Citizens Center, and on this evening she's in Philadelphia raising money to finance her efforts.

The race for the Democratic nomination in Allentown's newly created 22nd House District has entered the final sprint, and both candidates have been visible at community events across Center City and south Allentown, the heart of the newly-created seat.

Much attention has been paid to the demographics of Allentown's 22nd. The seat was moved to the Lehigh Valley from western Pennsylvania as a result of the Allentown's growing minority population. About 50 percent of the new district is Hispanic. But it is jobs, education and other quality of life issues that dominate discussions with residents on the campaign trail.

Tooley, a 43-year-old political newcomer and currently unemployed, has pledged to use her experience with Allentown's Weed and Seed program to tackle unemployment if elected. Tooley was a community organizer with Weed and Seed for about five years. She has also worked for Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley and Allentown Promise Neighborhood.

Some people think Center City residents are unemployable, said Tooley, who peppers her sentences with the word "my" to describe the locals that she has worked with — "my residents," "my mommies." But Tooley's work with Weed and Seed showed that city residents just need the tools and resources to help them find appropriate work, she said.

"That personal attention was key to making sure each individual had a job," she said. "Sometimes it took time, but we stayed the course."

Schweyer, 35, said the issue of unemployment is more nuanced than simply matching constituents with work. Residents need occupations that can sustain their families, not four or five part-time jobs, he said.

"Here's the great lie: government generally doesn't create jobs," Schweyer said. "The private sector does. So how to we incentivize the private sector to invest in Pennsylvania? We do that by having a tax structure that's favorable to them investing."

Schweyer, director of community and government affairs for Sacred Heart Hospital, has served on Allentown City Council for six years with stints as president and chairman of the budget and finance committee. In that post, the fast-talking former chief of staff for State Rep. Jennifer Mann said he helped to negotiate an on-site employment center at the city's new hockey arena within walking distance of Center City residents.

"That accessibility is the number one way to ensure residents get a job," Schweyer said.

Both Schweyer and Tooley also have pledged to make education a priority if elected.

Tooley, who is a graduate of the Allentown School District and has one child who attended Dieruff High School, said she would like to see more funding for early childhood education. Asked where that funding should come from, Tooley said the district already has the money necessary, but there is no accountability for how it is spent.

Members of the community attend school board meetings and ask questions about district spending, but officials are very secretive, Tooley said. The district received an extra $8.2 million in the final state budget last year, but more than 60 teachers are slated to be eliminated this year, she said.

The community needs to have more input on spending, Tooley said.

"To me, these are all our babies," she said. "Every child in Allentown is a child to me."

Schweyer, who has one daughter attending the Allentown School District and a second child in pre-school, also favors more investment in pre-K programs. There are various inefficiencies in the state budget where money could be freed to better fund education, he said.

Pennsylvania continues to invest in new prisons and give tax cuts to corporations that incorporate in other states, he said. Schweyer also favors a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production to better fund education.

Schweyer's platform also calls for tighter regulation of charter schools. Allentown School District spends 10 percent of its budget on charter schools annually, he said.

"That seems absurd to me," Schweyer said. "We should have tougher regulations, and [charter schools] should be funded entirely from the state instead of local real estate tax dollars. They should also be subject to the same open records law and have the same transparency as a public school district."

The winner of the democratic nomination will face Republican Steven Ramos during the general election in November. Ramos, an information technology specialist with Siemens Healthcare, is a graduate of William Allen High School and an Army veteran.